pennyspoetryfandomcom-20200214-history
Charles Guenther
Charles J. Guenther (April 29, 1920 - July 24, 2008) was an American poet, literary critic, and translator, nicknamed "The Poet Laureate of St.Louis."Charles J. Guenther, Find a Grave, August 2, 2011. Web, Feb. 23, 2013. Life Youth Guenther was born in St. Louis, Missouri. He started writing and translating poetry at age 15 while a student at Roosevelt High School in St. Louis. In his essay, "On the Art of Translation," he said "I spent hours in the library reading poetry, especially European poetry, in translation at first and later in the original language." Upon graduation from high school at age 17, Guenther worked as a copy boy for the St. Louis Star-Times. This work, Guenther said, was influential on his experience as a writer. “Newspaper people – then, anyway – were a special and temperamental breed. It exposed you to the human comedy.” He was a graduate of Harris Teachers College, earned a master’s degree at Webster College (now Webster University), and did doctoral work in languages at St. Louis University. Career During World War II he translated information for the U.S. Army Air Corps, tracking such details as the opening and closing of foreign runways. He worked at various times as a historian, librarian and supervisory cartographer for the U.S. Air Force. He was employed at the Aeronautical Chart and Information Center of St. Louis for 30 years. In 1953 Guenther began writing literary reviews for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, retiring from that position in 2003. He also wrote for the St. Louis Globe-Democrat from 1972 to 1982. Guenther said he considered reviewing a “civic honor.” In his work as a newspaper book critic, he reviewed work by hundreds of authors, such as Seamus Heaney, Ted Hughes, William Stafford, Mona Van Duyn and Anthony Hecht. Guenther was a prolific writer, whose poems, critiques, and translations appeared in more than 300 magazines.Obituaries - Charles Guenther, Webster-Kirkwood Times, July 24, 2008. Web, Feb. 23, 2013. He translated thousands of poems into English from French, Italian, Spanish, Eskimo, Greek, German and Hungarian. He corresponded with scores of authors, including Ezra Pound, Marianne Moore, and E.E. Cummings. Pound, who Guenther met in 1951, was a great influence on Guenther’s work, particularly his translations. Guenther also wrote original formal and free verse poetry, in addition to his translations. He was a literary critic for 50 years. Writing Poetry Charles Guenther was prolific in writing original poetry. He wrote in traditional rhyming verse; while frequently employing free verse. His subjects were varied, from wintry rural scenes “Snow Country,” regional “Missouri Woods,” and nature “Spring Catalog.” The poem "Three Faces of Autumn," (from the book Phrase/Paraphrase) is an example of Guenther's sometimes concise, clipped style: Now sunfire stains the tupelos and the shadows in trapeziums off the haybarns straggle and gather by rocks and birches where the crickets' still-fast whirr cries against the closed season (from Part I, "Three Faces of Autumn") Other poems, like "Escalator" and "Arch" were more experimental and avant-garde. Guenther also wrote elegies and poems commemorative of places, people and events. Guenther also worked tirelessly to promote poetry and poets. He was a frequent correspondent and mentored many younger poets. For 15 years he served as Regional Midwest Vice-President for the Poetry Society of America. Translations Guenther, who translated since his teens, was prolific in translating poetry from roughly a dozen foreign languages. Many poets were translated into English for the first time by Guenther. In an essay entitled "Reflections," from the book Three Faces of Autumn," Guenther credits Ezra Pound as an early influence on his work. The two met in 1951 when Guenther visited Pound while he was incarcerated at St. Elizabeths Hospital in Washington, D.C. Guenther said, "It was the start of a lively correspondence with this fascinating, obstinate poet who had put new vigor into American literature." Guenther was also versatile in his translation work. He translated into English from such varying poets as Edgar Degas, Paul Valéry, Pablo Neruda, Salvatore Quasimodo, and Dante Alighieri. Guenther also extensively translated the works of Garcilaso de la Vega, Juan Ramón Jiménez, Jules Laforgue and Jean Wahl. Most of his translations and poetry were published in literary publications, including The American Poetry Review, Black Mountain Review, The Formalist and the Kenyon Review. Italy in 1973 decorated Guenther with a knighthood with its Commendatore Ordine al Merito della Repubblica (Order of Merit of the Italian Republic). Other nations also honored Guenther for his work in translating their native poets into English, many for the 1st time. About the work of translation, Guenther wrote, “In a great poem there is something magic, a haunting spirit. It’s so rare that you keep looking for it.” In an essay concerning the craft of translation in Guardian of Grief: Poems of Giacomo Leopardi, Guenther claimed most of his translations were “reformations,” recasting “a foreign poem into its original form or free verse form.” Guenther said “My own practice when translating early poets is to place them in their own time, with a hint of antiquity, avoiding the grossly archaic language of their contemporaries. My purpose is to make a poem from a poem.” The last stanza of Guenther’s translation of Giacomo Leopardi’s “Calm After the Storm,” is an example of the Italian translations for which he was renowned: O kindly nature, These are your gifts. These are the delights You offer mortals. It’s a pleasure For us to be relieved of pain, You spread pain freely; grief Rises spontaneously; and that bit of joy Which by miracle and prodigy sometimes Is born of anxiety, it is a great gain. A human Progeny dear to those eternal ones! You’re lucky Indeed if you can breathe again After some grief: and blessed If death heals every sorrow. In the Introduction to Three Faces of Autumn, Guenther said recognition was important, but “It is the work, not the prize or the honor, that matters most. The work endures.” A poem by José Agustín Goytisolo (entitled “The Difficult Poem”), which Guenther translated and is the last selection in The Hippopotamus: Selected translations, 1945-1985, seems to sum up the translation process: The poem is inside and doesn’t want to get out. It pounds in my head doesn’t want to get out. I shout, I tremble, and it doesn’t want to get out. I call it by name and it doesn’t want to get out. Later down the street it stands before me. Recognition His book, Phrase/Paraphrase, was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize in Poetry. Awards The Order of Merit of the Italian Republic (1973) James Joyce Award, Poetry Society of America (1974) French-American Bicentennial Medal (1976) Witter Bynner Translation Grant, Poetry Society of America (1979) Missouri Arts Award (2001) St. Louis Arts Award (2001) Emmanuel Robles International Award in Poetry (2002) Publications Poetry *''Phrase / Paraphrase''. Iowa City, IA: Prairie Press, 1970. *''Union Station: September 2, 1884-1984'' (photos by Karen Shaylor). Saint Louis, MO: Nevertheless Press, 1984. *''Moving the seasons: Selected poems of Charles Guenther''. Kansas City, MO: BkMk Press, 1994. Non-fiction *''Modern Italian Poets''. San Francisco: Inferno Press Editions, 1961. *''The pluralism of Poetry: Remarks of acceptance upon receiving the award of Commendatore, Ordine "Al Merito della Repubblica Italiana" in the Knights Room, Pius XII Memorial Library, April 15, 1973''. Saint Louis, MO: Saint Louis University, 1973. Translated *''The Hippopotamus: Selected translations, 1945-1985''. Kansas City, MO: BkMk Press / UMKC College of Arts & Sciences, 1986. *''Man of My Time: New and selected translations''. Arnold, MO: Cornerstone Press, 2003. *Giacomo Leopardi, Guardian of Grief: Poems. Key West, FL: Margaret Street Books, 2008. Collected editions *''Three Faces of Autumn: Poetry, prose, translations: A Charles Guenther retrospective'' (edited by Robert C. Jones). Warrensburg, MO: Mid-America Press, 2006. Except where noted, bibliographical information courtesy WorldCat.Search results = au:Charles Guenther, WorldCat, OCLC Online Computer Library Center Inc. Web, Sep. 1, 2014. See also *List of U.S. poets *List of literary critics References External links ;Books *Charles Guenther at Amazon.com ;About * Charles Guenther, an American poet, John Hemingway blog *Obituaries - Charles Guenther *Charles J. Guenther at Find a Grave ;Etc. * Guengher, Charles. Papers 1899-1991. Category:American poets Category:People from St. Louis, Missouri Category:1920 births Category:2008 deaths Category:Harris–Stowe State University alumni Category:Webster University alumni Category:Saint Louis University alumni Category:St. Louis Globe-Democrat people Category:St. Louis Post-Dispatch people Category:20th-century poets Category:American literary critics Category:American translators Category:English-language poets Category:Poets Category:Translators to English